UPDATE: The I-205 traffic shift planned for tonight has been canceled due to inclement weather. Northbound I-205 will remain in its current configuration until the work is rescheduled.

VANCOUVER – Drivers on northbound Interstate 205 will notice a small difference in their trips this week – but crews will be making room for a big change to the interstate.

Beginning at 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, northbound traffic will be shifted to the left side of I-205 between Northeast 134th Street and the Interstate 5 junction. Drivers will continue to see narrow lanes and shoulders for the next two months while crews begin work to realign the interstate corridor.

“The shift and narrow lanes will make the road feel slightly different to drivers come Friday morning,” said Washington State Department of Transportation Area Engineer Leon Winger. “But the real story is the work that drivers won’t see right away.”

While traffic is shifted, crews will excavate the existing right lane and shoulder of I-205, and begin realignment work to lower I-205 and move the roadway 40 feet to the east.

Crews are realigning I-205 to make room for the new Northeast 139th Street interchange, which will carry drivers over I-5/I-205 junction and help reduce traffic congestion in Salmon Creek. The lower I-205 roadway will give interstate traffic 16.5 feet of overhead clearance under the new interchange bridge.

Drivers will experience one more shift this fall, when crews transfer traffic to a portion of the new roadway and complete realignment work on I-205. The realignment is expected to be complete next summer.

The $133 million Salmon Creek Interchange project is a partnership between WSDOT and Clark County Public Works. The project will reduce collisions and improve safety by reducing backups and freeing traffic flow. The project is on schedule to be complete by the end of 2014.

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